Luko Paljetak

He was nominated for Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1997 and Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2016. He was included in IBBY's Honour List in 2002.

• Name — Luko Paljetak • Born — 19 August 1943 • Birthplace — Dubrovnik • Died — 12 May 2024 • Place of death — Dubrovnik • Occupation — poet, writer, translator, comparatist, historian, director • Language — Croatian • Education — Faculty of Philosophy, Zadar Faculty of Philosophy, Zagreb • Genre — poetry, prose, drama • Spouse — Anamarija Paljetak • Children — Nikola • Awards — IBBY's Honour List Order of Ante Starčević Order of Danica Hrvatska Vladimir Nazor Award • Years Active — 1968–2024

Born in Dubrovnik in 1943 to his father Niko and mother Marija Skvičalo, where he spent his childhood and attended elementary and secondary teacher's school as well as Pedagogical Academy. He graduated Croatian and English studies at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zadar in 1968. Paljetak earned his doctorate at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb in 1992 with disertation Književno djelo Ante Cettinea ("Ante Cettineo literary work").

Due to prevalent ludism in his poetry, he was designated as "poeta ludens of the Croatian poetry". Paljetak is among the most productive contemporary Croatian poets.

Paljetak translated from English (Blake, Chesterton, Dahl, Joyce, Walcott, Wilde), Spanish (Lorca, Neruda), French (Saint-Exupéry), Slovene (Prešern), Italian and Russian. Most notable translations are those of the Joyce's Ulysses (1991), Shakespeare's sonnets (1984), The Canterbury Tales (1986) and "Anthology of the English romanticism poetry" (1996). Prior to his death, he translated Pearl (2022) and Chesterton's The Ballad of the White Horse (2023).

Most notable accolades include: • Ivana Brlić Mažuranić Award • Slobodna Dalmacija's Annual arts award (1980, 1985) • Župančičeva listina (1982), for translation of Prešern's poetry • Croatian literary translators' society's award (1982, 1987) • City of Dubrovnik Award (1983) • Order of the Republic (1983), for translation of Prešern's poetry • Vladimir Nazor Award (1986, 2005, 2012) • Tin Ujević Award (1990) • Goranov vijenac (1995) • Dubrovnik-Neretva County's annual award (1995) • Order of Danica Hrvatska with the face of Marko Marulić (1996) • City of Dubrovnik Lifetime Achievement Award (2005) • Dragutin Tadijanović HAZU Award (2009) • Golden Charter of the Matica hrvatska (2015) • Order of Ante Starčević (2018)